We need a new understanding of shrinking cities

“Politicians and economists have tried to counteract the phenomena of shrinking cities for a long time now but up to date this has rarely resulted in a turnaround. I think that we should respect people’s wishes to move elsewhere. To create policy in order to “combat” this problem will not work as there is no proper policy that will stop people from moving from one place to another.”

Being interviewed is German architect, Philipp Oswalt. He was involved in the project ‘Shrinking Cities’ which was initiated by the German government as an exhibition project which started in 2002 and ran through 2008. It was funded with over € 4,5 million Euros and it focused on understanding the phenomena of shrinking cities in the US, Great Britain, Russia, Japan and Germany. Oswalt argues that we need a new understanding of shrinking cities.